The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-27
GOTHVM'S CITY HALL.
WHERE TWEED AND HIS JOLLY
FRIENDS ENJOYED THEMSELVES.

Woman Who Knew How to Obtain
Her Rights.
NEW YORK. Nov 26-The City Hall of
New York is being repaired. 1t needs it.
Its stone floors are worn with the tread OF
many feet: sections of the thing are gone
and the place presents an appearance of an
tiquity and decay. The stranger on his
first visit to the metropolis is surprised to
discover what an unimposing, time-worn,
weather-beaten City Hall the greatest OF
American cities contents itself with, but so
much of historical interest clusters about
the old place that any attempt to replace it
with a new structure is frowned down. The
ordinary stranger visitor to the place never
sees the real objects of interest. He goes
up a stairway, which became so worn
with the tread of feet that it was necessary
to REINFORCE the steps with iron and enters
the long Governors ROOM whose walls are
covered with portraits of past Governors
and Mayors of New York and notable per-
sons like Lafayette, whom the artist has
pictured as a gentleman in baggy tTowsers
and with cast of countenance far different
from that which the average historical en-
cravings give him. A large portrait of
CLARK the cold water Governor with a foun-
tain in the background, lfe-sized picture
of Gen. Dix with his famous ''Shoot him
on the spot order in hand and scores of
other paintings of great men look down
from the walls. You imagine that look of
reproach rests on their countenanceS because
the frames about their portraits have been
allowed to go into decay ard become COW
cred with dust The bust of Washington
high over the entrance to the room, gazes
down on the quaint old desk at which the
Father of His Country held interviews with
his children. A plaster cast of Jefferson
painted in imitation of bronze stands in one
corner, but the artist did not paint the I'M
der edges of the coattails and the visitor dis
covers from that negligence that the statue
is not what it seems. An apparatus for
testing weights and some copper receptacles
for the accurate gauglng of measures add
an appearance of practical utility to the
room viii punch bowl from China pre-
scented to New York in 1912 suggests con-
VITALITY, but bears ON its broad surface an
inscription praising the virtues of water
for canals The portrait of New York's
cold water Governor seems to look down
upon this punch bowl with earnest dlsap-
provaL. Quaint furniture from colonial
times-sofas with high backs, tables with
slender legs. and chairs that are perfect
symphonies of discomfort stand resolutely
about the room aud tell the visitor very
plainly that they come down from colonial
times. Canvas coverings have been thrown
over the chairs and sofas to Shield them
from decay and hide their faded crimson
upholstery An old white-hared woman
with pleasant face sits sewing on ore of the
ancient sofas and keeping au eye on the visi-
tors who wander in, sign their names to
register, look about the room and help make
the carpet more threadbare than ever. She
is the wife of the former keeper of the
oil inn
tied the Governors room, slashed some of
the portraits with knife and then went to
the Aldermanic chamber on the same floor
and knocked the nose off of the bust of
great man. Thereafter a guardian was
posted in the Governors room and the old
lady performs that function. The stranger
may wander into the court rooms on the
second floor where weary looking jurors are
hearing the trials of civil cases he may take
a peep into the stutfy little room at the west
end of the second floor hall where the City
Hall reporters write and he will then proba-
bly, go down on the first floor and read the
official bulletins that bristle on big board
in desheveled fashion and announce what
the sher Fl and the law is going to do with
certain estates. These bulletins are never
pulled down but new ones are tackled over
them until the documents are several strata
deep. The stranger may see
the Aldermanic chamber which looks
ancient and more attractive than
any other room in the house and be
shown the cherry-colored desks at which
certain of the Doodle Aldermen sat or he
may get into the little committee room
fianked with narrow receptacles for coats
and hats where the boodlers sat to concoct
their plans and some of them to play
poker.
But if you want to see the interesting
parts of the City Hall you must go into
those sections that the new conner never sees.
Down in the basement with its massive
walls and air of gloom like a vault are
barred cells where prisoners once languished
when the City Hall served as police head
quarters. These cells are now coal bins or
receptacleS for all sorts of ancient debris
from base burners to legless chairs. There
is one apartment with deep brick ovens and
rustic cooking utensils which used to be the
room where the Aldermen took refresh
ments in the days when all the New York
Aldermen got for his oerviceS was a little
good beer after the session. A few doors to
the westward are the rooms where more
sumDtuouS feaStS were cooked and spread,
1t was fitted up by Bill Tweed and his high
living friends The range on which were
cooked their lavish feasts has rusted, the
broilers on which their choice meats were
prepared, hang useless on the walls, and the
big Dutch oven with its rusty iron doors
where high-salaried artists in all good things
baked for the epicurean bosses is falling into
decay. The sideboard which once groaned
meath the weight of costly wines is now a
receptacle for odds and ends, and the room
where Tweed, Sweeney & Co. had their pri-
vate table while the less important members
of the board ate near by in a large apart
ment is now filled with bundles of docu-
ments Not far away from this historic
scene of so much lavishness in the Tweed
days is little cell-like room where, two
days in the week charitable old man
dspenses food TO the poor from private con-
tribution, and near it is another room where
the employment and relief bureau of the
q. A. R. hears the sad stories of destitute
veterans and give them relief.
You see at one point the battered end of
a speaking tube that used to lead up from
the room of the Chief of Police to the bell
tower and through which the bellman in
the tower used to communicate with the
chief in the basement You leave this SOM
bre place and climb up to the garrett of the
building. The voices of children greet your
ears as you ascend there, and you find that
the keeper of the hall and his children live
up there. The halls are full of relics of the
past At one place hangs an old wooden
eagle that has lost its legs and most of its
gliding. A klarge allegorical picture with
Washington in the foreground hangs limp
and frameless from the wall and near it is a
steel engraving representing Napoleon